13-Year-Old Charged With Spotlighting Helicopter

PARKVILLE, Md. (AP) — Authorities say the pilots of a Maryland State Police helicopter were temporarily blinded by a laser pointer, and a 13-year-old boy has been charged in the incident.

It happened Sunday about 8:30 p.m. when the helicopter, with two pilots and a flight paramedic on board, was on a training mission over Baltimore County. Troopers say the cockpit was illuminated with a bright green flash of light, which was held on the cockpit.

The pilots recovered their night vision and were able to see where the laser beam was coming from. Troopers called Baltimore County Police and directed officers to the house where the suspect ran.

The 13-year-old is charged with reckless endangerment and laser pointer misuse. He was released to his parents.

It’s for this reason and others that Arkansas keeps those under 16 from buying lazer pointers. I would love to keep these out of the hands of drunks too. One punk at a club almost got his arse handed to him by Yours Truly

These helicopters & their training missions are a big pain in the a$$. They’re out flying 11pm at night & sometimes for an hour or more. Don’t they ever consider the people that are trying to get their rest & who pay for their freakin cowboy tactics?there sometimes

Williejoe, Do you understand that this was a medevac helicopter? I truly hope you are never in such a horrific accident that requires the use of the medevac. If you are however, be forever grateful that they perform these training missions, because they are the ones that will likely save your life.

laura i was trying to say the same ( but wjz would not let me post) thing people like williejoe just don’t get it the medevac do there training missions to get better for saveing peoples life and i know for a fact they don’t do training mission at 11pm and if you can’t sleep with a helicopter flying around then hes a light sleeper probaly a hillbilly

Well Chuck, when you or someone you love need this service at 3 am, please remember to tell the pilots to approach quietly or wait till a more reasonable hour.
BTW, the training mission in this article took place at 8:30 pm.

hey chuck like AT if you do’nt like it then move and stop whining about it you probaly live right by the airport that these helicopters stay at the helicopters are there to serve a purpose they are there to help and protect the citizens and that comment you said ” No respect for citizens quality of life ” just so that you think your better then everybody else your probaly a kid still in highschool acting like a hard ass which your not oh and i know matt been friends for years and as a matter of fact yes he did pass grammer school and he probaly has a better career then you if your not in school and probaly makes more money being a docotor

Obviously you just got your kids laser pointers. Remember to keep them off planes, helicopters and street vehicles. Also hope that in the event that you need a trip in a flying vehicle, no pointer blinds your pilot….

lets see what happens if they shine it in your eyes while driving a car, then tell me how it would feel, it’s already happened to me and it was not a fun experience, almost killed myself couldn’t see a thing and almost ran into another car, was on the highway and some ass shined one out a car at me, so I can believe what would happen to a pilot.

Craig, its you & people of your ilk that is the reason the kids today get a pass on everything. Much easier to say yes & get along or to say NO & have to explain the consequences. Get your head out of your a$$ or your girlfriend / wife’s chest.

You know what would have ruined his life?? If the helicopter pilot didn’t recover from the distraction and had to crashland the helicopter ironically on that kid’s house; that’s what would have ruined his life. Now.. not only could that have happened to the kid’s house, it could have happened to anybody’s house in the surrounding area. Get real please, thanks.

These lasers can cause severe concusions as well as temporary blindness. If the copter would have crashed into someone’s house due to this, would you ask why ruin a 13 yr olds life? Pay attention to what our kids do.

just outlaw the damn things and get it over with, I mean what did people do before a laser pointer, technology is not making things better it is making it worse, I mean people can’t even go to the toilet with a cell phone stuck to their ear now, how did we even survive before the invention of these laser points and cell phones and ipods, sure convenience is one thing, but some people just take it to an extreme

Children live what they learn–obviously these parents have issues: 1) Why does the child own a laser pointer 2) If it was 11pm why wasn’t he in his bed asleep? Obviously, at 13 he should know better, but where were the parents, and why aren’t they keeping watch over their 13 year old. Thankfully, no one was hurt, this situation could have been catastrophic.

Not sure what that means “Baltimore.” I do have children & they are expected to behave, and make appropriate choices, if not there are steep consequences. Unfortunatley, many people w/children these days are just as bad as children themselves! Guess you think this is someone elses’ fault? Take responsibility for your kids-not make excuses!!!

The kid should have been in bed and I don’t see what he needed a laser pointer for anyway. And the idiot comment asking another poster if that person had children….makes me wonder if the idiot poster let’s his/her children run amok all hours too. The point is this: parents are responsible, child of 13 is responsible and at the age of accountability, a catastrophic accident possibly involving death was a real possibility in this case, and the kid should be punished
harshly. Period. A line was crossed here. And who was the one that was worried about this kid’s life being ruined? The people in the copter could have had their lives ruined along with the lives of their families. Where are the minds at today people?! Quit taking the stupid pills. Let’s bring back accountability and trips to the woodshed. This is one case where this child need not have the rod spared.

Must be a slow day on this thread. Outside of Willie-Don croaking, nothing but a bunch of mumble jumble. On the matter of the 13 yr old, he needs some lessons in accountability & I would presume his parents needs likewise in parenting. So many parents today do not know what their kids are up to, who tehy are with & frankly even give a s…t. These are parents of the Y generation who always were asking Y -do OI need to clean my room, Y- do I need to get a job, Y- do I have to go to school? Complete wankers with no souls.

Ha,Ha !!
And thought it was some foreigner terrorist.
Ha Ha.
A little scared little boy with a laser .
Look !!
We have way too many cops flying around in expensive helicopters,
We CAN NOT afford.
There are many Army copters that could do this service,
that we are also paying for.
Our government must think we’re rich like China.
We are not.

AT. every comment doug post it seems like he has no brain in his head or he does not think about what hes goin to say or type people who post on wjz have asked him over and over again to stop posting because of the dumb stuff he post

For all of you who don’t want to do anything but complain about something, I hope and pray you never need emergency assistance. I am sure the local and state police do this all hours of the day and night just to aggitate you personally. I guess you even complain when emergency vehicles comes into your neighbor with their sirens and/or lights “blinking” ’cause that too would make noise and or you will have lights flashing ink your window.
Get real!

I can’t believe there are people on here defending this kid. 13 years old is old enough to know better. Most parents now a days, not all, but most parents don’t belong having kids. I belive most have them just so they can collect another monthly check. Yes, I live in the city and see it all the time. Little kids out on the street, no parents to watch them, becuase they don’t care. Those who are hard working, honest people get the boot. But thugs, drug addicts and baby makers are handed the world, in other words, part of my paycheck. I think this youngster should be taught a really good lesson, and so should the parents. I’d be interested to see if this 13 yr old has a record. I’d bet $100.00 he does!!! But I guess none of that matters, he’s ONLY 13!!!

These things should be outlawed.. there is no use for them. Period. IF parents do get these for kids and kids use them to harm others in any way or point at aircraft the kids and parents should ALL be charged. I hope they fine the parents in this instance and put the kid in juvey for a while

i can’t believe the people on this thread are bad mouthing the parents. Are you able to monitor all ypur childrens activities. We don’t know the story about this boy. He made a mistake. do we think that when a person does something bad one time we are ready to throw them to the sharks AKA the people in this thread. HEY FOLKS LIGHTEN UP. i know its wrong but people have such anger. don’t worry 2012 will be here soon or better yet just go to a movie and get away for 2 hours

I agree he should be punished, but HOW?? Jail time, community service etc. Lets be realistic here. He is a 13 year old child and although he may know right from wrong, he clearly did not understand the dangers of pointing a laser at the helicopter( if he was pointing it purposley at the helicopter). I agree with the above it’s a parenting issue, where he probably should not have it in the first place. Since he does now we move on. I dont think this EVENT should cause him to start having a criminal background. Education and awarness for both him and his parents seems more beneficial…

Will everybody stop arguing…it was a training mission and a boy thats 1 year younger than me pointed a laser pointer at a helicopter..sure he deserved that but the police and the boy have a side of thier story